POLL: Buhari enjoys 70% approval among the Nigerian populace

A recent poll conducted by NOI Polls, an opinion research agency founded by a former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says 70 per cent of Nigerians surveyed approved President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in office in the first month.

NOI Polls works in partnership with a United States-based The Gallup Poll to conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria.

The President’s assessment poll, according to a statement on the agency’s website on Wednesday, was conducted to gauge the opinions of Nigerians regarding the approval rating of the President’s first 30 days in office and the current state of power supply in the country.


According to the poll, the President recorded 87 per cent approval rating in the North-East, North-West and North-Central zones while the South-East zone accounted for the greatest percentage of respondents who disapproved of the President’s performance.

The poll also revealed that the South-South zone accounted for the largest fraction of respondents who were neutral, with 26 per cent.

“With a sample of this size, we can say with 95 per cent confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise,” the agency said.

The poll seems to follow the pattern of election results of Buhari in the 2015 general election.

Buhari, who contested the office for the fourth time, polled 15,424,921 votes against former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party to clinch the presidential seat.

Buhari won the election in 16 northern states and five south-western states, while Jonathan won the poll in three northern states, the FCT and 12 South-South and South-East states.

The statement read, “Respondents to the poll were asked two specific questions. The first sought to assess the opinion of Nigerians on the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari after 30 days in office. Respondents were asked: Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari in the past one month?

“The outcome revealed that 70 per cent of Nigerians surveyed approved of President Buhari’s job performance in June 2015 (first 30 days in office). On the contrary, 12 per cent of the respondents disapproved, whereas 18 per cent of the respondents were neutral as they neither approved nor disapproved of the President’s performance.